Technology: Manufacturing now requires more training

Sunday

Apr 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2013 at 12:55 PM

In Judy Donnelly’s Introduction to Lasers class at Three Rivers Community College, students use a camera to measure the width of a laser beam.

In Judy Donnelly’s Introduction to Lasers class at Three Rivers Community College, students use a camera to measure the width of a laser beam.
At Westminster Tool Inc., in Plainfield, workers design and build parts for the Joint Strike Fighter and the Apache attack helicopter.

Manufacturing in Eastern Connecticut has embraced the use of technology, and colleges here are providing the training needed for employees at these manufacturers to use lasers, robots, computers and other devices to produce products in demand worldwide.
“Manufacturing is alive and well,” Donnelly said. “It’s not 3-D – dark, dangerous and dirty – any more.”
A sizable percentage of the manufacturing going on in Eastern Connecticut is classified as advanced manufacturing, according to a 2009 survey by Deloitte Development. Manufacturing provides more than 20 percent of the jobs in Windham County and between 15 percent and 20 percent of New London County’s jobs, the survey reported. Of those, about 17 percent are classified as advanced manufacturing jobs in New London County. Forty-one percent of Windham County manufacturing jobs are called advanced.
“It’s one of the most important clusters in the region,” said John Beauregard, executive director of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board. “High-tech, high-skill, high-wage (manufacturing) jobs have a very strong multiplier effect.”

Jobs bring jobs
That means, Beauregard said, that each job of that kind brings between 1.5-2 jobs elsewhere.
Alpha Q Inc. in Colchester makes magnesium and light alloy components used in the aerospace industry. Acme Wire Products in Mystic produces precision wires used in the computer and printing industries. Plas-Pak Industries in the Norwich Business Park makes plastic syringes used in hospitals.
Westminster Tool “helps manufacturers manufacture better,” its president, Raymond Coombs Jr., said. It makes parts in the medical and aerospace fields.
The company’s 30 workers don’t stand at an assembly line performing the same task like at manufacturers of old. Rather, they usually see a process through from beginning to end, and they’re cross-trained to do many jobs. Several have master’s degrees.
“The fact is, our workforce is our most valuable asset,” Coombs said, noting Chinese and Indian manufacturers can buy the same computers, lasers and robots as American companies can. The quality of the workers is the only way to stay competitive, he said.
That means manufacturers work closely with Quinebaug Community College in Danielson and Three Rivers in Norwich.
“We have the largest engineering program in the state,” said Patrick Knowles, who heads the manufacturing program at Three Rivers.
“My students are in tremendous demand,” Donnelly, head of the college’s laser and photonics program, said. The program is the only one in the state and one of only two in New England.
Graduates from Three Rivers’ laser and fiber optics program start at $18 to $21 an hour, Donnelly said.